


Confidant

by DragonSilk



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Comedy, F/M, High School, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Letters, Pen Pals, Reader-Insert, Romance, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-06-04 14:38:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6662812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSilk/pseuds/DragonSilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You were excited about exchanging letters with someone from another country. You wanted to hear all about their life and compare it with yours. If you made a new friend in the process, well, that would be an added bonus. </p>
<p>Seto Kaiba hated the idea. He did not need to write letters to some foolish girl in order to practice his English. His English was better than hers, and it was an insult to even think that she might be able to help him in any capacity.</p>
<p>Seto Kaiba/Reader</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Letter #1

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to 'Personal' by Stars and this idea came up and whacked me over the head. It rudely demanded that I pay it some attention while it drank all my coffee and ate my chocolates.  
>   
> Chapters will switch from Kaiba to 'you'. All odd chapters will be in Kaiba's POV (third person), and even chapters will be from your POV (second person) until I say otherwise.  
>   
> The chapters will get longer as I go along.  
> Let me know what you guys think? Is it an idea worth chasing down?

The entire class went silent the moment Mrs. Akita, their English teacher, entered the room, but Seto Kaiba barely spared her a glance from his position in the back of the room. He was only in this class because they refused to let him test out of it, but he had nothing to learn from this class or the barely competent teacher. 

“Class, I have an exciting announcement!”

Kaiba doubted the announcement would be anything near exciting. Nothing in this class was ever interesting in the slightest. Thanks to many years of private tutoring, Kaiba was completely fluent in the language, unlike all of his classmates. Nothing that he ever had to do in this class was a challenge for him, and he often caught many of his teacher's mistakes. He didn't belong in this class with any of these people.

“I have your year long project here in this box!” Mrs. Akita shook the box she was holding. Papers rustled around inside, and Kaiba wondered why she was shaking them. His question was immediately answered. “You'll all reach in and pull out a letter. The letter will be from your new pen pal in America. For the rest of the year, you'll exchange letters with them and practice writing in English. Hopefully you'll learn some new vocabulary from the experience.”

Kaiba thought that was a stupid assignment. He didn't have time to waste sending trite letters to an unknown person.

When Mrs. Akita placed the box on his desk, he refused to grab a letter. “I want an alternate project,” he demanded.

“Request denied, Mr. Kaiba.” The woman shook the box again. “Time to pick a letter.”

Kaiba did not make requests. He stubbornly crossed his arms. “This is ridiculous.”

Mrs. Akita just reached into the box and pulled out a letter. She slapped it down onto Kaiba's desk. “Here you go, Mr. Kaiba. Be sure to respond or I'll be sure to fail you.”

Then she moved on to the next student.

Kaiba viciously pulled open his letter, ripping it a little in the process. The letter's first offense was being written entirely in purple ink. Clearly it was from a girl who had nothing better to do than write in colored ink and decorate her margins with doodles. His eyes skimmed over the words, and his glare increased in intensity. The contents decimated any potential respect he might have had for her.

_I'm not sure how I should start this letter. I'm excited about this project! I've never had a pen pal before and I think it'll be fun to write to someone from another country!_

Of course he would end up with a _pen pal_ who was disgustingly enthusiastic about the entire ordeal. She reminded him of Mazaki in the absolute worst way possible. Not that there was a good way to remind him of Mazaki.

_I'd love to know all about your life! Do you have any hobbies? What do you do for fun? What do you do with your friends on the weekend? What do you do after school? Where do you go for dates? I'm really interested in knowing how your life is different from mine._

Kaiba was reminded, yet again, of his superiority to most people his age. He didn't waste time on meaningless things like dates. Even if he did, he wouldn't tell this girl about them. His life was none of her business.

_I live near the beach. My friends and I like to just go lay on the sand on the weekends. Do you live anywhere near the ocean? I hate the way I always end up with sand in my bag and my hair and my car, but something about the rise and fall of the waves is really calming. Sometimes I drive down to the beach at night with some friends and we sit on the swings and just talk (and watch out for the beach patrol)._   
_I've been eating some chocolate while I write this and now I'm wondering what kind of candy you have in Japan? Is it anything like ours? Do you have M &Ms and Reese's? What's your favorite candy?_

Kaiba wondered how much effort had gone into this letter. Not much judging by her organization. From the ocean to chocolate. She clearly didn't have a single meaningful thought in her head.

_I hope that this first letter isn't too disappointing! I'm really just not sure what to write to you. Especially since my teacher told us not to give out any personal details like our name or address. (Well I wasn't going to tell you where I live, but I did want to start out with my name!)_   
_I'm eager to receive your response!_

Kaiba scoffed. Her letter was a disappointment despite his lack of expectations. He took out a pen and began making corrections to her English. At the end of the letter he wrote:  
 _Your letter shifts subjects abruptly at many points, and the subjects often have no logical connection to each other. In addition, the letter is poorly written. Your punctuation is particularly painful. You abuse exclamation marks and often omit commas._

At the end of class, he gave the letter back to Mrs. Akita. “As you see, I have nothing to learn from this person.”

She just sighed as she looked down at the letter. “Mr. Kaiba, I know that you think you know everything there is to know, but you don't.” She held the letter back out to him. “You speak and write English very well, maybe even better than I do, but you still have to do this project like everyone else. Write a proper letter to your pal and see what happens. She just might end up having something interesting to say. You will fail this class if you don't send your pal bi-weekly letters.”

Kaiba snatched the letter back. This assignment was going to be the biggest waste of his time. He hated his _pen pal_ already.

Mrs. Akita watched him leave her classroom. She honestly pitied the girl who would be receiving Kaiba's letters. The poor thing had ended up with the worst possible pen pal.

Kaiba typed up his brief response during his next class. If he was required to produce a response for this ridiculous assignment, then he would write a response. Mrs. Akita hadn't specified that he had to actually write anything polite.

He finished his letter and made a note to print it out later. He would hand it in to Mrs. Akita tomorrow and be done with the assignment until his _partner_ responded.

Of course, he doubted the girl would respond. That was the brilliant part of his response. A girl like that would probably burst into tears at his insulting letter and ask for another partner. Just the thought of her reaction caused Kaiba's lips to curl up into a smirk.

He always came out on top.


	2. Letter #2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Kaiba's letter was so hard! Oh man did I have so much trouble with it. x.x  
>   
> Enjoy~!

"Come on. Let's just ditch our last class.”

You were leaning against the wall of the hallway, just outside your next class, with your boyfriend's arms on either side of you. His hair fell into his eyes as he looked down at you. Mark, your boyfriend, was trying to be seductive, but it wasn't working.

You traced a pattern on his chest with your finger. “What if my letter comes today?”

“You'll just get it tomorrow.” His voice was low, and his breath tickled your ear.

“Hmmmmm.” You pretended to consider it. “Nope!” You ducked under his arm. Laughing, you skipped into the classroom. He followed, rolling his eyes at your antics, and settled into the seat behind you. The bell rang shortly after that, and Mr. Holt started the class.

“Hey class, I have some good news for a few of you.” He held up an envelope. “I have some of your letters!”

You shot upright and sat at the edge of your seat as you eagerly waited for a letter.

“But, I don't want any of you to be distracted, so I won't hand these out until the end of class.”

You sank back down in your seat. Why did Mr. Holt even have to mention the letters if he wasn't going to hand them out? It wasn't like you were going to be able to concentrate at all now. You were too anxious to see what your return letter said. Who was going to be your new pen pal? Would she be nice? You wanted to know what it said in your letter.

When class finally ended and Mr. Holt began passing out the letters, you almost cried out with joy when you got one. Forgetting all about your boyfriend, you ripped open the letter as you walked out of the room.

There were two pages, and that was exciting, until you realized that one of the pages was a copy of your letter. It was edited with markings all over it.

_That bitch!_ Your partner had corrected your English! The messy scrawl at the bottom of the page had additional insulting commentary on your excessive use of exclamation marks. He, you assumed your pen pal was a man because of the handwriting, apparently thought you should use more periods and less exclamation marks. Sure you didn't write a perfect letter, but the guy didn't have to be so rude about it.

You let out a frustrated groan as you moved on to the second letter. Two arms snaked their way around your waist, and you felt a chin settle into your shoulder. “How's the letter?”

“Not sure, still need to read it.” You held out the corrected version of your letter for him to take. “Check this out.”

He took it. “The hell?”

You shushed him as you started reading your pen pal's letter. It was typed, which totally killed your dreams of writing him a snarky letter saying you couldn't understand his handwriting.

_Is your life so pathetic that you're actually excited over such a stupid assignment? Instead of writing letters to me, maybe you should do something useful with your time. May I suggest learning how to write properly? Your letter was so poorly written that I would not have bothered responding if this were not mandatory._

Wow. Your new penpal didn't pull the punches did he? He accused you of having no life, but his response implied that he probably didn't even have any friends. How else would he have had the time to edit your letter? 

_Responses to your questions:_   
_1\. No_   
_2, 3, 4, 5. None of your business._   
_6\. Japan is an island. You are an idiot._   
_7, 8. Look it up online. I have no interest in candy._   
_Try to be less inane and stupid in your next letter._

He'd even wasted his time numbering all of your questions. Maybe this was a stupid assignment to him, but he could at least try to write you a decent letter. It wasn't that hard.

“What an asshole.” Mark seemed to be reading the letter over your shoulder.

“I dunno,” you hedged, “maybe he's like all those guys you play against online. He's just lonely and bitter.”

Mark laughed and kissed your cheek. “You're too nice. What are you going to say to him?” He took your hand, and the two of you began to meander toward the parking lot.

“I'm not sure. I mean, what if this guy really is sad and pathetic?" At the same time, he was a total jerk in the letter so you would be lying if you said you weren't a little angry. It was a confusing letter. You just didn't understand what would make someone write something like it. Sure you could be a bitch back, but that would just lead into a downward spiral.

You needed some advice. You took a quick photo of the letter with your phone and texted it to your best friend. She wasn't in school today, but she would probably have some choice words for your pen pal.

“Hey, did you get your letter?” you asked Mark.

His green eyes widened. “Yeah, I did!” He released your hand to pull off his backpack and reach inside. “Haven't read it yet.” He pulled out a letter.

“Well what are you waiting for?!” You didn't understand why you were the only one who loved the idea of this assignment. “Open it!"

He pulled open his letter and scanned it. It wasn't very long, but you knew that Mark's first letter was barely a paragraph so this was probably a proper response. “Huh. This guy is into Duel Monsters. What a geek!”

“Okay, Mr. Call of Duty.” You shoved his shoulder. “Like you have room to talk.”

“Whatever. Duel Monsters is some lame card game. Call of Duty is cool.”

“Sure.” Your phone went off, and you opened it to see your new text. It was from Mimi, your best friend. “I'm gonna head home. I'll see you tomorrow okay?” You waved goodbye to Mark.

Mimi had a lot of mean things to say about your new writing buddy, but she did actually have a very awesome idea.

“Totally going to do that!” you texted back as you got into your car. You were going to get started on the letter the moment you got home. If you couldn't be friendly with your new pen pal, then you could do your best to drive your new pen pal crazy. He might find your enthusiasm annoying, but you weren't going to tone yourself down for him.


	3. Letter #3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a friend who does this to me on every single birthday. I don't mind nearly as much as Kaiba does. ;D Mimi is kind of based on that friend.  
>   
> Enjoy~

“Mr. Kaiba, it seems you already have a response to your letter. Aren't you lucky?”

Kaiba glared at Mrs. Akita. Lucky was not a word he would apply to this situation. 

Not that he ever wanted to be considered a lucky man. No, luck was for the weak and inept. People like Wheeler needed luck, but Kaiba considered himself above it. He was skilled and persistent. When things worked out in his favor, it was never because of something as ridiculous as luck. It was always because of his own actions. He planned and used his wits to ensure that luck was unnecessary. 

So Kaiba rejected the idea that luck was responsible for the letter sitting on his desk. He tore it open, wondering what, exactly, his partner would have to say to him

A powder fell out of the letter. It spilled all over his desk and onto his lap. Swearing, Kaiba reflexively leapt out of his seat.

“Mr. Kaiba, do you have something you need to say?” 

He barely registered Mrs. Akita's chastisement for his interruption of her class. He was too busy staring at the powder as it seemed to shimmer in the light. He ran a finger across his desk and stared at his hand.

It was glitter. He was covered in fucking **glitter**. 

For once in his life, Kaiba found himself at a loss for words. Who put glitter into a letter? What the hell did that stupid woman have to be thinking to put glitter into her letter? 

Kaiba grabbed his stuff and stormed out of class. He was leaving school, going home, and changing. The last thing he needed was for someone to get a picture of him sparkling. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

He shook out the letter as he walked. He was less concerned about leaving a trail of glitter behind and more concerned about getting as little glitter as possible in his car. Mokuba did a project with glitter once, and Kaiba kept finding glitter in strange locations for days after that. So Kaiba was familiar with just how difficult the stuff was to eliminate. 

Stopping short of his car, Kaiba took a moment to read the cursed letter. What sort of person seriously sent a pile of glitter to someone? Why would his partner do that?

_Dear Domino Douchebag,_

Kaiba glared at the opening line. He hated seeing a word that he was unfamiliar with. The fact that the girl managed to use an unknown word was more insulting than the intentions behind it. Kaiba didn't like to think that she knew something he didn't, even if it was simply a word of her native language.

He decided to ignore it and move on. Slang wasn't worth his time.

 

_I hope you enjoy all the glitter that hopefully got all over you just now. After reading your first letter, I'm now convinced that you need more happiness and fun in your life. Or maybe just a better life in general. Of course I can't send you a happy life, so I sent glitter. Same thing really._

It was not the same thing, and Kaiba was insulted by the woman's assumptions about his life. 

_If it'll make you feel better I could totally misspell everything so next time you have more to bitch and complain about. I don't really want to do that but I can if it'll make you happy. Some people just need to have something to whine about, I think you might be one of those people._  
Since you refuse to talk about yourself, we'll just have to talk about me. So why don't you ask me some questions in your next letter?  
Well, how about I start off with some interesting facts... 

Either his letter was poorly worded, which Kaiba doubted, or his pen pal lacked reading comprehension skills. He didn't want to hear about her life. Kaiba stopped reading and crumpled up the letter. He didn't want to take it into his car, but he also didn't want to put it in his briefcase. 

Even the idea that glitter could get all over his paperwork was cringe-worthy. His employees would have a field day with that one. 

This assignment was becoming more of a headache than he thought it would be, and his pants were still covered with glitter. He tossed the letter into the nearest trash bin and tried to brush his pants off. His efforts were futile. He got glitter all over his hands, but the amount of glitter on his pants didn't seem to diminish.

He was going to kill something.


	4. Letter #4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I really wasn't lying when I said the chapters were going to get longer, but I think we have a few more chapters before that happens? Mostly the chapters will get longer as the letters get longer and Kaiba and the reader start to learn more about each other.  
>   
> Also, really angry rage and vengeance Kaiba in the last chapter was so ridiculous to write. Like I was all amused at the glitter on his pants so it was an odd contrast with my attempts to feel his rage.  
>   
> And Mimi finally shows her face. Kind of. ;D  
>   
> Enjoy~!

When you got your second letter, you were actually nervous about opening it. Your last letter contained an entire bottle of glitter, and you were starting to wonder what sort of response to expect. Would he retaliate?

“Open it!” Mimi demanded from her seat next to you.

Her words forced you out of your stupor. You picked up the letter from where your teacher dropped it onto your desk. Cautiously, you lifted it up and down trying to determine if the letter might contain anything but paper.

Mimi groaned at your hesitation and snatched the envelope from you. She pulled it open, holding it out over her desk, and yanked out the letter. She swung her arm out, holding the letter as far away as possible before shaking it out. The letter flapped around innocently enough. Then she read the letter. 

“Seriously?” She shoved the letter back at you only a moment later.

You looked down and instantly understood why it took her less than a minute to read the letter. The letter was only a single sentence long.

_Never send me glitter again, or I will hunt you down._

“Well, that was a waste of paper.” It was a little anti-climactic, too. You expected so much more from your temperamental pen pal.

Mark took the letter from you, probably wondering what you and Mimi were talking about. He frowned. “Can he even do this? Like, isn't there a length requirement or something?”

“I don't think so. Well, maybe?” You weren't sure. The rules that you had might not be entirely true for your writing pal.

Mimi grabbed her bag and skipped to the front of the room. “Mr. Holt, are our pen pals allowed to send us letters that are only a line long?”

Mr. Holt frowned. “Did your pen pal send you such a short letter, Michelle?”

“Not mine.” Mimi pointed back at you.

You brought your letter up and showed it to your teacher. He looked it over and sighed.

“It looks like you got the difficult student that Mrs. Akita mentioned to me.” He passed the letter back to you. “Well, I can mention this to her if you want?”

“No, it's okay. I'm sure the next one will be better.”

Mimi shot you a questioning look, but you ignored her as you gathered your own stuff. Mark was already waiting in the hallway, and Mimi was quick to follow you out the door.

“She's not complaining,” Mimi informed Mark before turning back to you. “ **Why** aren't you complaining?”

You shrugged, but it was an awkward motion with Mark's arm around your shoulders. “I dunno, we sent him all that glitter so I guess I understand his response?”

You didn't sound very confident, so it wasn't a surprise that Mimi was not convinced. “What aren't you telling me?”

“I'm still hoping that I can be friends with this guy.” You looked down at your feet, not wanting to see her reaction

Mark was the one who responded first. “Do you want my pen pal?”

“I couldn't do that!” You were surprised that he would offer to trade. “You've got such a friendly partner!”

Mark squeezed your shoulder. “Yeah, but I think you'd enjoy writing to him more than I do. I'll take on this jerk for you.”

“Thanks.” You gave him a quick kiss. “It's okay, really. I'm fine with my pal. I just need to find something we can talk about.”

“Oh! I have an idea! Stop being mushy for a moment.” Mimi poked your shoulder. “What if we send your pen pal weed? That'll chill him out!”

You just stared at your friend. “No.”

She was completely serious about her idea. “Really! We can go down to Venice, relax out on the beach, and buy some weed for your uptight buddy.”

“Mimi, no.” She had a point, but you were not going to send drugs to some guy you barely knew.

“C'mon! Think about it!”

It was decided. You weren't going to let Mimi anywhere near your next letter.


	5. Letter #5

Kaiba was still trying to erase the memory of all that glitter when he got the next letter. He'd tossed out the clothes that he'd been wearing that day and had his car professionally cleaned, but he still kept finding glitter on his stuff. Random objects would taunt him by sparkling.

He wouldn't fall for that one again. This time, he opened his letter over a trash can. He threw the envelope away the moment he pulled the letter out. Then he carefully unfolded the letter over the trash can and shook it. It seemed safe, so he started reading it.

_My dear Japanese Jackass,_

Kaiba glared at the letter, trying to set it on fire with his eyes. He was not her _dear_ anything.

_Your threat is cute, but let's be honest, there's an entire ocean stopping you from hunting me down. I won't send anymore glitter... for now, but you should really be nice to me or I'll catch you off guard again._

She would never catch him off guard like that again. He would always remember the incident and treat his letters with the appropriate amount of suspicion. It might almost be worth it to have one of his maids open all the girl's letters to him from now on.

_Actually, your short letter was very disappointing. If you don't write more next time, I'll be forced to have my teacher complain to yours. I'm sure you're getting a grade for doing this too._

He **was** getting a grade, and he wasn't very pleased with the return threat. When he sent his short letter, he expected his teacher to say something to him. She didn't even mention it, which led him to believe that she wasn't bothering to look at any of the letters.

If his pen pal complained, his teacher might start looking at his letters. He didn't want her on his case for being rude or not putting in enough effort. Kaiba growled. He _hated_ this project.

_Really you should just count yourself lucky that you don't have my best friend as your partner. She thinks that you're just too uptight and that we should send you some weed. I had to talk her out of that idea._

The press would have a field day if he got caught with _weed_. If this exchange weren't completely anonymous, he would wonder if you were trying to ruin him.

_(Maybe warn your friends about the possibility of getting suspicious plants in their letters. I'm not sure who her partner is, and I'm a little worried she really will send someone weed.)_

It might be interesting to see someone get arrested over this project. Maybe then the school would finally admit how ridiculous this entire idea was.

_Actually, I had a question for you. Do you know anything about some card game called Duel Monsters? My boyfriend's partner keeps talking about it, and I admit I'm a little curious. My boyfriend said that it's just some game for geeks, but I was wondering if it was popular out there?_

_Love,  
Your Glittery Friend_

Was she actually calling Duel Monsters _just some game_?! What was **wrong** with her?! The strategy and finesse of the game would probably just go straight over her head, but he couldn't believe that she didn't know the significance of Duel Monsters.

He would have to send this girl a book with all of the rules. He didn't have the time to waste explaining everything to her, and she didn't deserve to have the best duelist in the world give her advice. If she even knew who she was talking to she wouldn't waste his time with—

A thought occurred to Kaiba. He looked down at the letter and skimmed it again. This plan would only work if his teacher really wasn't looking at his letters. The girl was human, and she had the same flaws that every other human had. He could take advantage of that and the fact that she had no clue who she was writing.

Kaiba was quite pleased with himself as he started his next letter. He really did have a brilliant mind.


	6. Letter #6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this update is entirely blamed on the lovely ladies in the Lunaescence Kaiba facebook group. I am apparently now the leader (or leader until Mokuba takes over) of a motorcycle gang that runs around stealing Kaiba's trench coats and (possibly?) doing his dirty work. xD  
> I love you guys. ♥  
>   
> Anyway, "Cards are power," is basically a direct quote from Kaiba. I cannot make this stuff up. He's ridiculous sometimes. (Of course he can also disarm a man with a duel monsters card so who am I to judge?)  
> Enjoy~!

At the end of class, Mr. Holt always passed out all of the letters that had recently come in the mail. You always waited patiently to see if one of the letters was for you. Mark wasn't as eager to see his responses, but he sat with you and just teased you for being too excited about such boring letters.

You actually weren't expecting a letter today. You sent your letter out only a few days ago, and you didn't expect a response until early next week. So you were shocked when Mr. Holt held out an envelope for you.

The envelope was surprisingly thick this time around which was yet another surprise. At first you intended to wait until you got home to open it, but now, you were curious. You peeled open the envelope and turned it over onto your desk to let its contents pour out onto the table. You were shocked to see that he sent you a letter and a little booklet. Curious, you picked up the booklet and looked at it. The cover read: The Basics of Duel Monsters. There was also a post-it stuck to the front. Scrawled on the post-it in a very messy script was a single sentence:

_Cards are power._

Laughing, you passed the booklet over to your boyfriend. “Here. This'll help you with **your** pen pal.”

“Wait.” Mark shuffled through the book. “He sent you a _book_? I take it back, your pen pal is officially stranger than mine. And what's with this note? Cards are power? What does that even mean?”

You unfolded your letter. “Well I did ask him if he knew anything about Duel Monsters.”

“He didn't have to send you an entire book about it.” Mark was studying the post-it. “I think my pen pal said something ridiculous like cards having a heart... maybe they're friends?”

“Dunno.” You playfully put your hand over Mark's mouth. “Be quiet and let me see what my letter says.”

He licked your palm, and you pulled your hand away with a squeal. Then he held his hand up to your face, pinched both of his fingers together, and drew them across your face as if he were zipping your lips. You shook your head and started reading the letter.

_I may have a business proposition for you. I'm not interested in doing this project, and you were correct in your assumption that I am also receiving a grade for it._  
_My teacher is not looking at my letters, and I can only assume that your teacher isn't either. If you will agree to let me send you blank pieces of paper, or pages printed at random, instead of actual letters, I can promise I will make it worth your silence. You may even send me blank sheets of paper to save yourself the effort of this assignment._  
_Name your price. How much will it take for you to pretend that I'm sending actual letters?_

Oh dear. That was... well, that was slightly ridiculous. You folded up your letter, casting a glance over at Mr. Holt to make sure that he wasn't paying any attention to you. You weren't going to agree to such a ridiculous proposal, but you didn't think that you needed to alert your teacher either.

Mark picked up on your odd behavior. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing. I just realized that I need to get home quickly today. C'mon, let's go.” Mark looked like he was about to respond, but you sharply shook your head. You took the book from him and shoved it back into the envelope with the letter. You slung your bag over your shoulder and clutched your envelope to your chest as you made your way out of the classroom.

Mr. Holt stopped you before you could leave. “Your letter seemed heavy. I take it your pen pal decided to write you a proper letter this time?”

You just smiled. “Yeah, he even sent me a little information booklet on something I asked about.”

Mr. Holt nodded, but you could tell he wasn't paying very much attention to you. “Good. Good.”

You said goodbye and left the room. Mark was waiting for you just outside the doorway, and you reached out to take his hand. “Walk me to my car?”

“As my lady commands.” He did a little bow. “So I have to ask. That letter wasn't a naked photo or something was it? Because I really will hunt this guy down if he sent you something like that.”

“Oh, no!” You were shocked and wondered where Mark would get an idea like that. “I'll show you in the car, but it's nothing like that!”

“Good.”

Your curiosity was going to eat away at you if you didn't say anything. “What even gave you that idea? You're not sending out nudes are you?”

"Nah. No nudes yet." Mark shrugged. “I dunno. You just looked really... uh, shocked, I guess, and you were folding the paper so quickly I just assumed it was something you didn't want to see.”

“Oh. Well, more like I didn't want Mr. Holt to see it."

The two of you quickly made it to your car. Mark opened the driver's side door for you before he walked around to slide into the passenger seat. You waited until his door was shut before you passed the letter over to him.

He just started laughing. “Oh man, this guy is a HOOT!” He slammed down his hand on the dash as he continued to laugh. “Seriously? He's trying to _bribe_ you now? Oh man.”

You took the letter back from Mark. “Well, I'm not sure if he's serious or not. I mean, _name your price_." You rolled your eyes. "What, is he some kind of mob boss?”

“Mob boss? Yeah right. Hey! You should demand ten grand in unmarked dollar bills!”

Your boyfriend was just as ridiculous as your best friend sometimes. “I think you might watch too many crime movies, Mark.” You pulled the Duel Monsters guide back out of the envelope. “Did you want to keep this so you can finally understand what your partner is talking about?”

“Nah. I've been googling all the nonsense that he writes about. Did you know that the best duelist in the world gets the ridiculous title of King of Games?”

Your eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Really? King of **all** Games? That's a little silly.”

“Tell me about it.” Mark scoffed. “I bet I could beat the so-called King of Games at Halo or Call of Duty any day.”

You just reached over and grabbed a fistful of Mark's shirt. “You're so arrogant.” You pulled him toward you for a kiss. You kissed him lightly, but he wove his fingers into your hair and pulled you back when you tried to pull away. He nipped your bottom lip and dove his tongue into your mouth when your lips parted. You clutched his shirt tighter and wrapped your other arm around his neck.

By the time he pulled away, you were slightly out of breath. He leaned his forehead against yours. “Are you still coming over this weekend for my party?”

“Yeah.” Your response was a little breathy, but you couldn't help it.

He released you and pulled away. He pushed open the car door and got out. Before he closed the door, he leaned back into the car. “See you later, beautiful.” Then he closed the door and waved.

You leaned over your wheel and tried to convince your heart to stop beating so quickly. Today's letter was now sitting on the floor of your car, and you reached down to pick it up.

 _Name your price_.

Your pen pal, whoever he was, had to be joking in his letter. Who seriously told people to name their prices? What, did he expect you to be okay with twenty dollars or something?

Maybe you would take Mark's advice and name a ridiculous price.


	7. Letter #7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throwing money at the problem seems to be something Kaiba likes doing. Such a carefully constructed plan.  
>   
> Oh the reader has no idea what she's signed on for.  
>   
> Enjoy~!

For the first time, Kaiba actually wanted to open his letter. He wanted to see if his partner would actually take him up on his offer. Nothing satisfied Kaiba more than being one step ahead of people, and he was really looking forward to outsmarting his teacher and getting out of this assignment.

When Mrs. Akita passed out letters and presented one to him, he very carefully opened it away from himself just in case it contained any surprises. Kaiba forgot nothing. The envelope only contained a single piece of paper, and Kaiba was slightly relieved. He didn't want to deal with glitter again.

He pulled the paper out and unfolded it onto his desk.

_Greetings Gangster!_

His partner truly was bizarre. He didn't know if it was her personality or if it was because she was from America.

_Shouldn't you be making me an offer I can't refuse? I mean, asking me to name my price? It's like I have some sort of blackmail or something that you're trying to keep me from telling people. I have no idea what you look like, but I'm just imagining an older man sitting in a really expensive chair and smoking a cigar now._

No, it was definitely just her. He didn't know what twist of fate caused this girl to end up as his partner, but this was bordering on ridiculous. She was probably the worst possible person for him to have randomly ended up writing.

_Well I happen to be enjoying our exchanges far too much for you to bribe me. I won't take less than ten thousand dollars for my silence! So you may as well start thinking about what you want to write to me now._

Kaiba smirked. Victory. Since his partner didn't know who she was writing, she also didn't know that he could easily pay her ten thousand dollars for her silence. That was almost nothing to him. He just needed to figure out a way to send it to her. He couldn't send her a check. A check would contain his name, and that would ruin his anonymity.

He might have to send her all the money in cash. American money would at least be less bulky than the equivalent in yen, but it would still be a little bit too much for a normal envelope. He would have to consider the matter.

_My boyfriend is having a party this weekend. Nothing too major. He's probably just going to end up competing with his friends in Call of Duty or something the entire time. Do you play any console games? Or any games at all?_  
_Actually, you never really answered any of my questions about Duel Monsters. You just sent me that rule books with the ambiguous phrase. What does that even mean? Cards are power... like money is power?_

That was almost correct. Cards were power in the same sense that money was power. Having more cards, especially when they were powerful cards, made it easier to win duels, but just having the right cards wasn't enough. You needed to know how to use the cards that you did have properly.

In the same way, a man with a lot of money could quickly become poor and powerless if he didn't spend it properly. Duel Monsters could easily be thought of as a metaphor for life.

Kaiba didn't think that his pen pal was ready to understand how Duel Monsters worked just yet.

_I actually have a few more questions now. I guess the Duel Monsters Champion is called the King of Games or something, but why is that? I mean he could be horrible at other games like chess. He can't possibly be good at all of them. So what's up with the title. Is it a Japanese thing?_

Kaiba's eye narrowed on 'King of Games'. The title got under his skin. It was a title that should belong to him. Kaiba knew that he was the only one with a true mastery of strategy. He was the only one who could master any game.

Kaiba glanced over at Yugi. He probably could beat Yugi at chess with no problem, but he still wanted to beat Yugi at the game that they originally played together. King of Games was a title that belonged to the dueling world, and any true duelist should be able to think strategically enough to adapt to any game.

_I'm going to look over that book you sent me. Maybe I'll have a few more questions by the time I write my next letter! I'll talk to you later, Mr. Sparkles!_

Kaiba twitched. Did she have to keep reminding him of that event?

Tonight he would figure out how to send the money through the mail. He might have to just get a larger envelope and send the cash.

He was still considering the matter when class ended, and he almost didn't hear Yugi call out his name. He paused, giving Yugi a moment to catch up with him.

“Hey, Kaiba.”

He didn't like the way Yugi treated him like a friend. He respected Yugi, but they were not friends. “What do you want?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if you're enjoying the assignment. Do you have an interesting pen pal?”

“This assignment is pointless. How do you think I feel about it?” Kaiba turned and continued on his way.

Yugi did his best to keep up with Kaiba's long strides. “I was just wondering... did you send your pen pal a book about Duel Monsters?”

Kaiba beat back his surprise and kept walking. “Where did you hear that?”

“My pen pal happened to mention that his girlfriend got a book. He told me that the sender wrote 'Cards are power' on it and asked me what that meant. You're the only one I've heard say that so I just wondered...”

Kaiba respected Yugi too much to lie to him. “She asked about the game. I wasn't going to waste my time explaining it to her.”

Yugi nodded as if that made sense to him. “Don't worry. I'll let you stay anonymous.”

Kaiba honestly didn't care. It wasn't like it would matter if she knew who he was after tonight. Once he sent her the money, this entire ordeal would hopefully be over. Then he would only have to _pretend_ to write to her.


	8. Letter #8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you guys they were going to get longer~  
>   
> It's kind of fun to write from the perspective of this reader. Kaiba's actions, when you know nothing about him, are just so weird and hilarious.  
>   
> Enjoy~!

You were worried when Mr. Holt asked to speak with you after class. Immediately, your mind jumped to the essay that you turned in yesterday, and you wondered if there was a problem with it. You patiently sat in your seat as he passed out letters to your classmates. Mark and Mimi both had letters today.

When Mimi got hers, she shot a, “Later!” in your direction and bailed out of the room. You just shook your head. You couldn't blame her for wanting to leave; the school parking lot could get pretty crowded after school was over. Besides, she skipped out of school whenever she could, as early as she could. It was Senioritis at its finest.

Mark was less eager to get off of school grounds. “Do you want me to wait for you?”

“No, it's okay.” You waved. “I'm sure I'll be fine, and you would just be waiting to walk me to my car.”

“I'll see you tomorrow then.” He left, opening his letter as he walked.

Your phone vibrated. You shot a glance at Mr. Holt--he was still passing out some letters--before checking your text.

It was Mimi, probably texting you from the parking lot. _My pen pal sent me five PAGES. What do I do with that?!_

You didn't bother texting her back. You were a little bit jealous of her. Her pen pal actually wanted to talk to her. Mimi had a pen pal who really wanted to be friends, and Mimi absolutely hated it. You should have asked Mimi to switch partners with you earlier.

Finally, Mr. Holt was finished passing out all the letters. You threw your bag over your shoulder and approached his desk. “Did you want to talk to me?”

“Yes.” He held out a large envelope. “Your pen pal seems to have sent you a package again. Can you explain this to me?”

You took the envelope. Despite its size, it didn't feel very heavy. “Well, you saw the little booklet he sent me last time. Maybe he sent another one or some cards. This feels light enough to be cards.”

“Do you mind opening it for me?”

Yes. You minded. The incident with the glitter was still on your mind, and you were expecting revenge any day now. You didn't want to have to explain the contents of the envelope if it turned out that it was full of sand or something. “I'm sorry, Mr. Holt, but I have to get home, and if there are cards in here, I don't want to lose any of them. I hope you understand? Can I tell you tomorrow?”

He nodded. “That's all I had to say. You can go.”

“Bye, Mr. Holt!”

The envelope was a mystery, and you couldn't wait to actually open it. You held it close to your body and squeezed it, trying to guess what could be inside before you made it to your car. Once you were safely in your car, you ripped open the envelope and peered inside.

Then you promptly threw the envelope into the passenger seat. _Oh dear_. You looked back at the envelope, but you were unwilling to pick it up. You tried to shove your keys into the ignition, but you were so shocked by all the money in the envelope, surely you had to be seeing things, that you missed the ignition. Looking down, you managed to get the key into the ignition so you could turn your car on. Not sparing the envelope a single glance, you focused on driving home.

You pulled into your spot in the driveway and turned off your car. Then you picked the envelope up and looked into it again. It was still full of money. 

It was like being in one of those movies where someone had a package, and they were not supposed to open it, but they did anyway, and then everyone tried to kill them.

Just. Like. That.

You glanced around. The garage was completely empty. Nobody else was even home yet. The envelope was shoved into your bag as you made your way into the house. You didn't even bother grabbing a snack from the kitchen as you passed straight through and went directly into your room. Your bag was unceremoniously tossed to the floor next to your desk. You pulled out the envelope and turned it upside down over your bed. Wads of cash fell out. Folded up hundred dollar bills, to be precise.

Your pen pal had sent you money. American money. Lots of american money.

**Where did he even get all this money?!** Who had so much money that they could just send someone bunches of hundreds?! There had to be a least a few thousand dollars sitting on your bed now. There had to be some message. You pushed the money around until you found a piece of paper.

_Offer accepted. Ten thousand dollars for your silence._

No. No. No. Absolutely not. It was a school assignment. Did he seriously think that sending you ten thousand dollars so that he wouldn't have to write letters to you was reasonable? What was **wrong** with him? He was around the same age as you, so you couldn't even understand where he got this much money in the first place.

You took a quick picture of the money and sent it to Mimi with a text: _Penpal actually sent money. What do I do?_

She was quick to respond: _NO WAY! He didn't! Give me some. ;D_

_Ask your own penpal for money. =P_ You wouldn't be keeping this. You couldn't keep this.

Maybe you could keep a little—NO! You absolutely had to send it back. For all you knew, it wasn't even real money. It could be counterfeit money. That seemed more reasonable than the idea that your pen pal had ten thousand dollars lying around that he could just send you.

“Sweetheart, are you home?”

You heard your mother coming, and you tried to cover up the money. It was too late. She walked into your room and saw all the money that you were feverishly trying to shove back into the envelope.

Then she said your full name, and you knew that you were in trouble. “Where did all of **that** come from? Are you stripping?”

“What?!” How could she jump to that conclusion? “NO!”

“Then you aren't prostituting yourself out are you?”

“No!” It was nice to know how highly your mother thought of you. “I'm not doing anything like that!”

She walked over and grabbed a handful of money. “Well, _this_ doesn't just appear out of thin air. Where did it come from?”

Ugh. You really didn't want to talk about this with her, but you had no choice. “My pen pal doesn't like the assignment, and he offered to send me money if I would let him send me blank letters—but I thought he was joking!”

She eyed the envelope and turned it back over onto your bed. “How much did he send?”

“Ten thousand. Supposedly. I haven't counted it.”

Your mom dropped the money in her hand and took a step back. “That much? Is he a drug dealer or something?”

“I don't...” Well, it was a possibility. What did you really know about the guy? He could be a drug dealer. It would explain a lot. “I'm not sure.”

“Send it back. You need to send it back. If you don't know how he got this money, you can't keep it. He doesn't know who you are right? Keep it that way. I don't want some sort of gangbanger coming after you. Send him back all his money.”

She was starting to overreact, but she did have a point. This boy, whoever he was, could send you ten thousand dollars. That wasn't something most people could just do for such a ridiculous reason. The money had to be dirty money. Even if he had wealthy parents, you doubted that they would just let him send someone ten thousand dollars to get out of an assignment. He would have had to steal it from them.

You needed to get this money back to him before it got you in some sort of trouble. 


	9. Letter #9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote this chapter, I wasn't sure if it was okay for Kaiba's obsessive nature to kick in yet.  
>   
> He really is an obsessive man though. Anything that undermines him just bothers him endlessly~  
>   
> Enjoy~

Kaiba expected his pen pal to take the money and go along with his plans. For him, the amount of money was insignificant, but for her, it would be a lot of money. She wouldn't be able to stop herself from taking it.

So he almost couldn't believe his eyes when he got a package from her.

Mrs. Akita's grin was huge as she dropped the package on his desk. “I see you're getting along well with your pen pal, Mr. Kaiba.”

She continued passing out the rest of the letters while Kaiba just stared at the package. It was suspiciously large. What could that girl be sending him? He had a feeling that he knew what was in the package, but he wouldn't believe it until he actually opened it.

If he was right, he shouldn't open it at school with so many people around. He didn't need people prying into his business. He picked up the package and left the classroom. He would open it in his office and figure out what to do from there.

Even though he was leaving school early, nobody protested. The entire staff was used to him coming and going at his leisure.

He could have opened the package in his limo, but he wanted to wait until he was at his desk. If it contained what he suspected, then he wanted to be somewhere where he could plan with ease.

His assistant greeted him the moment he entered the top floor. “Mr. Kaiba, you're here earlier than I expected today. Shall I have any important business sent to your office or tell everyone that you aren't in yet?”

He appreciated that his unexpected appearance didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. Perhaps he should actually try remembering her name. She might last a while. He dropped the package onto her desk. “Open that.”

“Of course.” She didn't question his order. She simply pulled out a box cutter and sliced the package open. “Anything else?”

“What's inside?”

She pulled it open and looked. “Money, Mr. Kaiba, and a piece of paper.”

His suspicions were confirmed. “Hold all my calls.” He grabbed the package and carried it into his office. He pulled out the piece of paper and read your note. Your handwriting was sloppy. It seemed like the note was hastily written.

_I don't know where you got that much money, but I don't want anything to do with it. Honestly, is it that difficult to write a letter? I got the impression from your first rude letter that you were good with the English language. So just write me some letters already. Unless you really are incapable of it._

He just stared down at the note. It was much shorter than his previous letters from the girl, and she seemed to be feeling frustrated with him. Well, **good** , she should be feeling frustrated. He was already beyond frustrated with her. Couldn't she just be a normal, greedy human being and take the money? Why did he have to get saddled with such a weird girl?

Who was she really?

Kaiba half wished that he hadn't thrown out all of the letters that he'd received from her. He could recall them all, almost down to the exact word, but he wanted to line them up and figure this girl out. Perhaps she was already wealthy and didn't need any more money.

Except, his experience with people said that they always wanted more. It never mattered how much anyone had. They constantly wanted more than that. It was human nature. This girl wanted more than she had, too. He was positive of that. He just needed to figure out exactly what she wanted. Maybe it wasn't money, but there was something out there that she desired.

If he figured her out, then he would have the solution to this problem. He was a genius. Surely he could figure out a simple high school girl.

What did he already know about her? He didn't have her letters, but that didn't mean he couldn't compile a list of facts in his head. He pulled out a notepad and wrote, “Stubborn,” at the very top. It was the very first adjective that popped into his mind when he thought of his pen pal. Her mind was so set on exchanging letters with a complete stranger that she wouldn't even take his money.

Under 'stubborn' he also wrote, “Social.” The girl continued to be interested in forming some sort of friendship with him. He didn't understand why, but he also wasn't a social creature. He knew that he had different motivations when it came to people. As long as he had Mokuba, he had no need for anyone else in his life.

Thinking back to her first letter, he recalled her tangent about the ocean. She lived near the beach and visited it on the weekends. That was mostly useless information for now, but he wrote it down. It could be useful later. If she lived close to the beach, it was a sign that her parents were at least moderately wealthy. He tried to recall if she'd said anything about which beach she frequented. She hadn't. She'd complained about sand in her bag and car.

A car. She had a car. That was important. Most high school students didn't have their own cars. He had no idea what kind of car it was, but it was still a start.

She'd included more about her life in the second letter, but he hadn't bothered finishing that letter. At the time, he'd been so angry about the glitter that he just tossed the letter out. It didn't matter. The girl would probably just repeat herself later. People _loved_ talking about themselves, which he didn't understand at all. Sharing more details about yourself just left you open to your enemies.

_Weed_. The word popped into his mind as he recalled your second threat. You had a best friend who was, most likely, a drug addict. Kaiba added, “Drug Addict?” to his list. If your friend did drugs, then you probably did them too. He just didn't know if she did drugs for sure. The threat may have been empty, it was hard to tell through letters.

He also recalled a brief mention of a boyfriend. He added that fact to the list. He didn't know much about the boyfriend... but he did know someone who would know about the boyfriend. Yugi. Yugi was writing to his pen pal's boyfriend.

Kaiba wondered if Yugi knew anything about his pen pal. Surely the girl's boyfriend would at least mention her from time to time in his letters?

That was a pointless thought. He would never know the answer to that question because he wasn't about to ask Yugi.

She mentioned her boyfriend throwing a party, but she also mentioned Call of Duty as being a part of that. It was an American video game with which he was only vaguely familiar. He didn't write that information down. Her letter had implied that she didn't play it. Or, if she did, then she wasn't a very big fan. Either way, it was unimportant to his understanding of her.

He spent another moment thinking about the letters before deciding that his list was complete. This was all he knew about the girl so far.

It wasn't enough. He couldn't figure her out based on just this information alone.

That was okay. He spun his pen around. He could probably manipulate the girl into telling him everything he needed to know. He just needed to be patient.


	10. Letter #10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this update, you must trust in me. Trussssst. *Hypnotic eyes activate.*  
> But seriously, just have faith that I know what I'm doing with Kaiba's character and that all we see is a letter until the next update. All I ask is trust until the next update...  
> Enjoy~

Friday afternoon found you stretched across a towel on the beach. Your giant beach towel was twice your size and you were able to sprawl across it comfortably without worrying about accidentally letting your hair end up in sand. You'd come here almost immediately after school with Mimi and, as a result, you were still in the clothes that you put on this morning for school.

That was okay. The day was warm, but not exceptionally so, and you probably would have been cold in a bathing suit. As it was, you could just lie back with your eyes closed and feel the warmth of the sun.

It would almost be relaxing, if you weren't so bothered by the letter that you'd received maybe an hour ago. The letter from your pen pal that seemed so out of character that you were convinced he had no part in writing it. The words mockingly swam around in your head as you listened to the crash of water against the shore.

 

_Have you had time to look over that rule book I sent you? I've included some cards that you might like since you said that you live near the ocean._

 

There were cards in the envelope. Not many. Just a few. Seven Colored Fish, Amazon of the Seas, Terrorking Salmon, and A Legendary Ocean. You had to admit that the picture on the Legendary Ocean card was really pretty. The picture showed an underwater kingdom. It looked peaceful and you were thinking about pinning it to the board above your desk.

Except you never expected your pen pal, of all people, to send you cards. Mark's pen pal, sure, but yours? No way.

Maybe he paid off Mark's pen pal and now has _him_ writing to you as well? The letter seemed almost like the ones that Mark kept talking about.

 

_If you have questions you may ask me. I'll consider answering them if they aren't stupid._

 

The way he wrote that, it almost seemed like you should count yourself lucky that he was even considering answering any questions that you might have. You were going to take him up on that offer. If he refused to answer a question you could always write it on a million pieces of paper and send it to him. With glitter.

 

_I rarely have time of my own, but when I do I spend it playing games that involve strategy like Duel Monsters. You mentioned that your boyfriend plays Halo, but said nothing about yourself. Do you play any games?_

 

It was a friendly overture! This was the moment that really caught you by surprise. You just didn't understand where it came from. You wanted to grab at it and run but you were too suspicious. It felt wrong somehow.

 

_My little brother loves games in general. He has one of every system. Sometimes I play against him but he hates losing. Do you have any siblings?_

 

You never thought of this man as the type of person who would have a little brother. Somehow the man who sent you ten thousand dollars and the boy who played games with his little brother just couldn't meld into one person. It all felt so very wrong.

You turned onto your side, facing Mimi. Her eyes were closed and she was lying in the sun in just a bra and her skirt. You didn't think she was asleep.

“I showed you the cards right?”

Her eyes opened and she brought up her hand to block out the sun as she turned her head toward you. “From you letter? Yes. You even made me read the letter. And then you talked about it the entire way here.” She cocked an eyebrow. “I still can't believe you didn't keep the money. If he gave it to someone else to have them write to you then it's your own stupid fault.”

She was right but that didn't meant that you had to like it. “How do I respond? Should I call him on it?”

“Nah.” She leaned back down and closed her eyes. “Does it matter who you're writing? This assignment is anonymous. So take advantage of finally having someone decent now.”

That was very true. You were originally interested in knowing what it was like to live in Japan. It didn't really matter if this was someone new writing your letters or not.

Except you kind of liked your partner. He was like that grumpy old man you always said good morning to even though he never said anything back.

It could still be your partner. The cards did seem a bit like him. He gave you that rule book after all, and you now knew that he had plenty of money to not see sending you stuff as a big deal.

Maybe you should send him something too? It was only fair. He sent you a book and some pretty cards. Except you had absolutely no idea what you could possibly send him.

You leaned back down on your towel and shut your eyes. “Do you think I should talk about my family in my reply?”

“I don't see why not.” She paused before deciding to just say what she was thinking. “Well, that's kind of a boring topic don't you think?”

“He asked.” You wouldn't have brought it up otherwise. You didn't know if you were even allowed to go into details about your private life.

“He probably doesn't really care. Are you sure you don't want to strip down? The sun is really nice.”

You opened your eyes and watched as Mimi turned over so she was lying on her stomach. “You know you could get in trouble for indecent exposure.”

“Meh.” She dismissed your words with just a sound. “My bra covers more than my swimsuit.”

It probably did. The bra that she was wearing today was a very basic bra, even if it was a bright pink.

You decided to just pull out a book in an attempt to distract yourself from the letter that kept running through your head. It didn't work. You tried to concentrate on the words in the book, but they kept getting replaced by the words in your pen pal's letter.

What should you write back? The question kept poking you. Even if you tried to write out a response it would prod at your brain. Should you pretend that this was the very first letter that he sent you? Maybe he just wanted a fresh start?

Unlikely. Your pen pal seemed to hate this project. You just couldn't see him sending you this letter for no reason. He had to have some sort of motivation. You just couldn't figure it out.

You looked back down at your book and tried to read it. The words seemed to blend together and you couldn't concentrate enough to even remember what was going on in the scene. Then a line jumped out at you, “What, silence again? We must talk about something, you know.” That was a point that you hadn't spent much time considering. Maybe your pen pal really had decided to just give in and write the letters properly?

Well, you couldn't see any reason to not respond to his letter properly.  


	11. Letter #11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First I want to thank everyone for trusting me.  
>   
> Hopefully you all feel better about it after this update~? :D (And don't want to stone me for bringing another voice into the mix. :O)  
>   
> Enjoy~

Kaiba Corp. was in the process of releasing a new gaming system to the public by the time Kaiba received his next letter. He was simply too busy to care about it. So it sat, unopened with the rest of his school work, while he oversaw the final production phases of the product.

“Big brother, did you get a response yet?”

Luckily, Mokuba remembered Kaiba's project for him.

“Yes. I haven't had time to look it over yet.” At the moment, Kaiba was too busy looking over randomly selected units for external defects. Quality Control would also look over everything, but Kaiba liked to have a hand in every step of the process. It was his form of quality control when it came to all the departments in Kaiba Corp. People did their best work when they were worried that he could look over it at any moment.

Mokuba was disinterested in the technical aspects of Kaiba Corp. “Is it okay if I go read it?”

“Fine,” Kaiba agreed. Then he actually considered the question. “Have my assistant open the letter for you first.” He didn't want anything unfortunate to happen to his little brother. He doubted that the envelope would have anything too serious inside it, but it was always better to be cautious.

“Oh, like there's going to be poison in there or something.” Mokuba rolled his eyes. “She's just a girl, Seto.”

If Kaiba had learned anything over the years, it was that one should never underestimate their opponents. _His_ pen pal probably thought that he was _just_ a boy.

It didn't matter. Mokuba would do as he asked. Mokuba usually did what he was told to do, and when he didn't, the argument predictably involved video games, candy, or staying up late.

Feeling confident in his assessment of his brother, Kaiba went back to work as Mokuba ran off in search of the letter.

\-----

Mokuba wasn't surprised to know that the letter was unopened. His brother had complained about this assignment on multiple occasions before actually explaining it to him. Mokuba understood why his brother didn't like the assignment even though he thought it was interesting. He doubted his brother would appreciate anything that involved interacting with people he thought were useless. Mokuba, on the other hand, liked the idea of talking to someone who didn't know him.

Everywhere that Mokuba went, he was always known as Seto Kaiba's little brother. People knew that he was rich and had a powerful brother, and they always treated him well because of that. It was nice to be openly adored. Mokuba couldn't honestly say that he hated it. He loved it most of the time.

Still, talking to someone new could be a nice experiment. Mokuba wanted to see if he could get this girl to like him, or rather his brother since he was technically her pen pal, even though she didn't have a clue about his identity. He knew that he was working with a disadvantage, Seto exchanged a few letters with the girl before he got involved, but Mokuba didn't mind. He was the charming little brother. **Everyone** loved him.

He pried open the letter, expecting a long letter about her, and was disappointed.

_I have to admit that I'm curious about your sudden change of heart. I assumed that you would always hate this assignment and I never expected you to send me such a_ _**nicely** _ _written letter. But I'm happy to be finally getting to know you!_

His brother was right. This girl really was eager to be friends. Mokuba knew that he shouldn't be disappointed by that, but at least she was a little bit suspicious. Some people were just friendly. It didn't mean that she actually liked him or his brother.

His goal was to go beyond just being friends. Mokuba wanted her to adore him.

_I do like playing games. I'm just not as into it as my boyfriend. He plays it all the time with his friends, and they can get really vicious about it. I played with him once, but it just caused a fight when I wasn't as good as he wanted me to be._

_I hope that doesn't make him sound bad! He's a really nice guy. In fact, I was really surprised the first time I saw him playing a game. It's still a little strange to see him yell at people like that! I guess he just gets really involved with it._

Mokuba wondered if she was just trying to defend a boyfriend who was a complete jerk. Then his eyes flickered down to his locket, and he realized he was in no position to judge. He knew his older brother could be more of a jerk than he usually was while he was dueling, and he hated it when people just judged his brother based on his trash talk. Mokuba didn't know what the boyfriend was like at all. He needed to remind himself to not make any assumptions.

_I really enjoy the Final Fantasy games. I know my boyfriend makes fun of me for that, and you probably will too, but I'm a sucker for a good romance. A lot of those games have such nice stories and I enjoy them a lot._

_Except for FFX. The end of that one made me really sad because they would never be able to be together and I would hate that. I can't imagine falling in love like that and never seeing them again. I don't know if I love my boyfriend, but I do care about him a lot and if he moved away I'd be really upset. So I can't imagine how Yuna was feeling._

Mokuba wasn't about to admit to anyone that he understood what she meant. He couldn't include it in the letter because that was the sort of thing that his brother would just edit out before sending it.

Mokuba knew what it was like to lose someone close to you. It was horrible.

He would still probably make fun of her for being such a girl about it. Even if it was a moving ending, it was still a game.

_I know you play Duel Monsters, and the cards you sent me are really very nice, but I just don't get the point (thank you for them by the way, I really liked their pretty pictures, one is even sitting on my bulletin board)._

Mokuba lost it at this point and began roaring with laughter. It had been his suggestion to start sending the girl little things to make her more amiable, but he never—no. He **should** have expected his brother to send cards.

He just couldn't believe that those cards were now being used as decoration because of their _pretty pictures._ Oh, Seto was going to hate this letter if he ever got around to reading it. Hopefully he hadn't sent anything too rare.

_I guess I'm just not a huge fan of strategy games? And I would never have the patience to build myself a deck. Or the money. It seems like you would have to buy a lot of cards so you could have enough options to build a really nice deck? I'm only guessing since I've never played._

_You should be nicer to your little brother! Maybe he's just a sore loser because you're a sore winner? I mean, where's the fun in beating your_ _little_ _brother all the time? Let him win from time to time!_

Mokuba was going to give his brother a piece of his mind! He was NOT a sore loser! He couldn't believe that Seto had included that in the letter! Of course, he never expected the original part about looking up to his little brother's amazing gaming to make it through Seto's edits but still.

His big brother should just count himself lucky that Mokuba was enjoying this exchange. Otherwise he would end up trying to write a decent letter on his own.

It had been amusing to watch his brother try to construct a vaguely nice letter on his own, but it was even more amusing to try to make a complete stranger love him. So Mokuba sat down and began typing up a response. Of course he was going to do his best to write a response that his brother would hate but still be forced to send mostly unedited.

\-----

Mokuba was partially successful. When Kaiba eventually found the time to read Mokuba's letter, he hated it. He then skimmed his pen pal's letter in an attempt to figure out how to make Mokuba's letter more appropriate.

His eyes zeroed in on a single line of the letter without seeing anything else. At that point, his own response to the girl instantly took shape.


	12. Letter #12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I'm super busy at work, and that makes remembering to do anything hard.  
> The next chapter... oh the next one. It's going to be long. Seriously. And I'm excited for it. ;D  
>   
> Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this one~!

When you received your next letter you were surprised by how stiff it felt. Holding it delicately by the edge, you shook it. It flopped around without bending, letting you know that there was something flat and hard inside.

You weren't going to wait to see what it contained. You pulled open your envelope to reveal a folded piece of paper and another envelope. The second envelope ended up being a CD jacket. You pulled the CD out and eyed it curiously, but it was a basic CD with no indication of what was burned onto it.

So you turned to the letter.

 

_Duel Monsters cards are more than just pretty pictures. You insult the game when you treat them as less than what they are. The enclosed CD contains a Duel Monsters simulator. It has a variety of levels and even someone as simple minded as you should be able to manage the easiest one._

 

You smiled at the contents of his letter. It was definitely your pen pal's unmistakable passion. He was a typical geek and Duel Monsters was his area of geeky interest. Insulting it made him nerdrage just like you thought it might.

You looked at the CD curiously before putting it back into the envelope and gathering your stuff. The letter said that it was a simulator, but you were curious about the type of simulator. It was either just a basic game for your computer, like solitaire, but it could also be something more complicated.

Either way, it was a fun idea! You were eager to get home so you could pop the disc into your computer.

Your happiness didn't slip past Mimi. She fell in step with you as you hurried out of the class. “Win the lottery again?”

“No.” You slowed down so that she wouldn't have to hurry to keep up with you. Mimi was incredibly tall and had long legs on top of that, but she didn't like to hurry anywhere. She liked to take her time. “He sent me a game.”

“Let me see.” She grabbed the envelope from your hands as she made her request. She shoved the envelope and letter back at you as she pulled out the CD. She turned it over, looking at both sides twice. “It's blank. How do you know?”

“Because the letter says so?” You held it out to her, expecting her to snatch it back.

She didn't. “So? The dude obviously hates you for not taking his money—”

“Hey, his last letter was very polite,” you objected.

“You were convinced it wasn't even him.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Just because he says this is a game... You can't believe everything people say. It could be a virus.”

“I'm sure it isn't.” You grabbed back your CD. “It's not like breaking my computer is going to make me stop writing to him.”

“You're too _nice_ sometimes.”

You were used to the way Mimi made things sound insulting. “I'm not nice. I'd just fail if I didn't write to him.”

She shrugged. “Still. You're friendly and too nice. Don't let this guy take advantage of you.”

That was an oddly serious note. “How could he possibly take advantage of me?”

The two of you were in the parking lot now, so Mimi just shrugged before walking away toward her own car.

“It's not going to melt my computer!” you called out after her.

She waved goodbye without turning to face you.

Honestly, she could be so suspicious of people at times. Maybe it was because she was always playing tricks on people and messing with them. Either way she only trusted other people if she was high or tipsy.

You threw your stuff into the backseat of your car before strapping yourself in and starting it up. You planned to go directly home so you could check out the game but that didn't work out. Mark called while you were driving home and asked if you would come by his house and give him the homework for the day.

Of course you agreed and found yourself pulling up in front of his house. The house had a long u-shaped driveway. When you visited you always just pulled into the driveway and parked off to the side, out of the way of anyone who tried to get in and out of the garage. Mark's mother was not fond of you, so you didn't want to give her any reason to complain.

You grabbed your school bag before locking your car and making your way over to the front door. Of course it _had_ to be Mark's mother who answered the ring of the doorbell. “Hi, Mrs. Allen.” You smiled. “I'm here to show Mark my notes for today and give him the homework.”

She opened the door wider and stepped aside. “Come on in. He's in his room. He's sick, so don't take too long.”

You thanked her as you took off your shoes, leaving them near the door before heading upstairs to Mark's room. Maybe you were a little paranoid but you could feel her watching you the entire time. It was like she expected you to shove one of her decorative urns into your bag or something.

Mark's door was ajar so you knocked on it as you pushed it open.

He quickly shoved something under his covers before noticing that it was you. “Hey.” He smiled and pulled his DS back out to continue playing. “How was school today?”

“I finally got a response from my pen pal.”

“Took him long enough.” Mark glanced back up as you put your bag down on his desk. “Could you close the door? I'm supposed to be resting.”

You sat down in his desk chair and started wrestling your binder from your bag. “No way. Your mom'll be up here every five minutes if I close that door.”

“Ugh, true.” He snapped his DS shut and shoved it under his pillow. “So what do you have for me?”

You held up your binder. “All the notes I took today. Plus the homework.” The letter was sticking out of your bag. You stared at it for a moment. Mark might be interested in the simulator. “Plus a Duel Monsters game if you want it?”

“That card game my pen pal is obsessed with?”

“Yep. My pen pal sent me a simulator.”

“Nice!” Mark grinned. “Load it onto my computer and we'll take a look.” He pushed back the covers and stepped out of bed. He was wearing a shirt, but below the shirt he was only wearing boxers. You looked down at your binder. At least he was dressed.

He took the binder from your hands. “I'll go make a copy of this. You still remember my password right?”

“Yeah.” You nodded and distracted yourself by pulling out the CD. He left the room to make copies and you switched his computer on. You absentmindedly spun the CD around your finger as you waited for the desktop to go through its start up processes. Eventually the log in screen popped up and you quickly typed in his password. You hit enter. Then you pushed the button to open the CD drive. You popped the CD in before shoving it shut.

The computer gave you the option of installing the software, you clicked yes. The installation process took longer than you expected. Maybe it was a big game? Eventually you found yourself staring at the opening menu.

It was pretty basic. A plain black screen with the words, “Duel Monsters Simulator” written in big white letters. There were two buttons. One to start a new duel and another for the settings.

Mark was still off copying your notes. He was probably making copies of all your notes rather than just the ones from today, his note taking skills sucked. So you clicked the button to start a new duel.

Then you were faced with the the option of choosing your skill level. There were five options and the easiest one seemed to be labeled 'Clueless American'. Your pen pal was so sweet.

You clicked on it anyway. You were clueless.

Then you had the option to build your own deck or to have the game generate a deck for you. You weren't about to waste any time building a deck, especially when you didn't know what you were doing. You decide to just let the game generate a deck for you.

Then it presented you with card options and asked you to select one. You recognized the Terrorking Salmon that you'd received in your last letter and clicked on it.

The screen asked you to select heads or tails. You clicked on heads and a virtual coin was flipped on the screen. It landed on head and the game announced that you would go first.

Then the screen loaded a dueling field. Five cards appeared on the bottom of the screen and the screen had two grid sections. Two two-by-seven sections.

A little pop up told you to click on the 'deck' on the bottom right corner of the screen. You did and a sixth card popped up with the other five.

It was your turn but you had no idea what you were doing. You clicked on one of the cards. That displayed two options. Either you could set the card, or you could see its info. You decided to look at the info for all the cards since you honestly didn't know anything about any of them.

Mark came back before you were done reading the information for all the cards and leaned over your shoulder. “Do you even know what you're doing?”

“Not a clue.”

He laughed and pulled out his desk chair. “Up you go.”

You protested but he just pulled you out of the chair. Then he sat down before pulling you into his lap. “Here, watch me play and I'll explain the rules.”

“Since when do you even know the rules?” That was news. He seemed to just enjoy complaining about how much his pen pal obsessed over the game.

“I told you I looked it up. My pen pal talks about it in every single letter. I'm beginning to wonder if he has any friends. It's not too hard to pick up. Watch.”

Then he began the duel. He explained things to you as he played, but you still didn't understand the allure. It was a card game. Something you played when you were bored like Solitaire or Go Fish. Why anyone would want to play it as an actual pastime was beyond you. You weren't even sure if you cared enough to install the game onto your own computer.

At least, you had something to write to your pen pal about now.  


	13. Letter #13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! We're still in my old 2013 chapters for this, but we should catch up soon. :)

Kaiba received a notification the moment the program he sent his pen pal was installed. It was early in the morning, and he was still one of the few people in Kaiba Corp. His work day wouldn't get hectic for about another hour, so it was the perfect time to connect to her computer and take a look at all her documents.

He continued to look over paperwork as he opened a window on his computer. He established a connection with his pen pal's computer without taking his eyes away from his papers.

She seemed to be playing the game. As he went over his paperwork, he kept an eye on what was going on in her duel. He was surprised that she seemed to already know the basics. Maybe she really had read that book he had sent her.

Not that knowing the rules seemed to be helping her. She was awful at the game. Her choices were making him cringe. Kaiba didn't know how anyone could make such stupid moves. It was starting to frustrate him far too much. He couldn't watch her failure of a duel any longer and began to look through the files on her computer.

The files were disorganized. This woman clearly had no sense of structure. Many of the names were misleading or vague. Her entire music collection was organized, but Kaiba suspected that whatever program she used for music did the organizing for her. He bypassed the music for the moment. It might be useful later, but she had too much for him to look at it now.

Most of the documents on the computer were essays for school. He didn't care about that. He skimmed one over, noticed how poorly written it was, and moved on. He might have considered himself lucky that her letters to him seemed to be constructed with more care, except he didn't think too highly of them either.

Then Kaiba found a password protected folder. It could contain the solution to his problem. Whatever was in that folder was something she didn't want anyone to see. Perhaps even a diary that could tell him all about her weaknesses.

The folder took only a moment to crack open. Her system wasn't equipped for resisting his software. He opened the folder to discover a bunch of video files. He clicked on one and was uncomfortably disappointed when he realized that it was porn. He closed the window, disgusted. What type of woman kept a stash of porn on her computer?

He wondered if he could use it as blackmail. Kaiba began looking through all of her porn, purely to see if any of it was incriminating. If she had something illegal in her porn stash then he really could use it as blackmail.

Kaiba didn't find anything illegal, but he did find a great deal of lesbian porn. It accounted for almost half of the girl's porn folder. He had a feeling that this could be the leverage he used to convince her to stop this ridiculous exchange of letters.

He didn't bother looking at anything else on her computer. He had what he needed. The porn would be enough for him to blackmail her. There wasn't anything illegal about her porn, but she had it in a locked folder. She was clearly ashamed of it and didn't want people to know it was there. He could manipulate that to his advantage.

By the time he received his next letter, Kaiba already had his response planned, so he didn't really care what her letter said. He only bothered opening and reading it in class as a diversion from a painfully boring lecture.

_Thank you for the Duel Monsters simulator! I brought it over to my boyfriend's, and he ended up playing the game. He's enjoying it a lot so I joked that I would give it to him as a birthday present!_

Kaiba bit back a curse. The game wasn't installed on her computer! His carefully constructed plan was useless. Frustrated, he crumpled up the letter and shoved it into his briefcase. He wasn't in the mood to read the rest.

He had planned on sending her a letter detailing his knowledge about the contents of her porn folder. He still could but now he would be bluffing. Kaiba had nothing against bluffing, but only when he thought that he would succeed. He didn't like the odds of his pen pal having lesbian porn on her computer too. No, he couldn't show his hand this early on. He would have to devise a new strategy.

Kaiba didn't want to continue reading the letter, but he needed as much information as possible before constructing a new plan. He reached back into his briefcase and yanked out the letter. He roughly smoothed it out onto his desk, ripping the edge in the process. He skipped over the small bit he'd already read and continued reading.

_I've been watching him play, and even though it looks interesting, it doesn't look like that much fun. Maybe it's more fun to play against actual people instead of the computer. Maybe we could play against each other over the internet? That might be fun!_

Was this woman seriously suggesting that a world champion like himself play against someone who didn't even understand all of the rules? He would beat her in less than a handful of turns.

_Since there's a simulator, I'm sure there's a way to play against people online! That way you can play something you enjoy while talking to me! Plus talking to people during a game is a fun way to get to know them._   
_So how about it? Do you want to get together and play sometime?_

Kaiba wasn't sure how the world worked in this woman's mind, but he did not converse with his opponents, he verbally tore them into pieces. Winning a match was about more than taking away an opponent's life points.

No, he was not going to play against this girl in an attempt to become better friends with her.

Then again, it would be a way to get her to actually install the game onto her computer so he could look through her files. There was still a chance that she would install the simulator on her computer, but it was unlikely at this point.

_Actually, did you know that the company that started Duel Monsters is located in my state?_

Here, she had a word completely scribbled out. Kaiba wondered why she hadn't started a new letter and attributed it to laziness. Not that he would have bothered wasting his precious time on a new letter, but there was a reason why he typed his letters.

He was also annoyed that she presumed she could tell him something he didn't know about Duel Monsters. He was a world champion!

_My boyfriend has been looking up a lot of stuff about Duel Monsters because his pen pal really loves it too. So I guess that's all they write letters about. But the creator lives somewhere near San Francisco! I thought that was interesting. It's technically an American game, but I guess it's a bigger deal in Japan? (I'm assuming that it's a big deal in Japan based on your letters.)_   
_Maybe it's bigger here than I know? I don't really have any friends that are into card games so I wouldn't know for sure. I do know I never heard about it before your letters. I guess it's one new thing I've learned from you!_   
_Hopefully there's a lot more for me to learn in the future! I'm sure you have plenty of interesting things you can tell me!_   
_(And don't forget to let me know if you want to duel over the internet! I really think it could be a fun way to bond!)_

She was still disgustingly friendly. He shoved the letter back into his briefcase. Kaiba was used to people trying to pursue a friendship with him. He was a powerful and wealthy man. People wanted to try to become friends with him so they could try to take advantage of him. His personality often worked as a deterrent, but he had so much money that many people still tried to be his friend. To many, his money and power outweighed his personality. 

This girl had no idea who he was. None at all. So he expected her to give up before this point. He was just a guy from Japan to her. She had no reason to pursue a friendship with him.

Kaiba corrected himself. She knew that he had access to a degree of money after he tried bribing her. So perhaps she did have an idea that he was wealthy. She could be smarter than he gave her credit for if that were the case. This could all be a calculated ploy to become acquainted with a wealthy man.

He needed more information. Even if this was calculated on her part, it still didn't tell him how to end their exchange. She could be greedy, but he'd already tried offering her money and that had failed. It didn't help him to assume that her letters had the motivation of becoming friends with a wealthy man.

He needed more information about this woman. He still needed her weaknesses.

He might be able to figure out information about her using her boyfriend's computer. Kaiba considered this strategy as he left class. His brief search through the boyfriend's computer hadn't revealed anything more personal than porn, but that didn't meant that there wasn't anything useful there. Kaiba could go through the boyfriend's internet history and emails. Those might give Kaiba some idea about his pen pal's identity.

When Kaiba arrived at his office, the entire dilemma took a backseat to his work. It seemed that he couldn't spend a few hours at school without something falling apart. He cursed the incompetence of his employees and dived into his work.

The letter didn't enter his mind again until Mokuba brought it up a few hours later. While Mokuba was sitting in his office doing homework, something reminded him about the letters and he asked if there was a new one yet.

As a response, Kaiba tossed the crumpled and abused letter over to his brother.

“Wow.” Mokuba's eyes widened a bit at the state of the letter. “I guess you really didn't like her response, big brother.” He pressed the paper against the table and began to smooth it out. “You should have sent my letter.”

Kaiba shook his head. “I want her to stop sending me letters. I don't want her to fall in love with me.”

“Hey! I only pretended to be you that one time! It's not my fault that girl totally fell head over heels in love with me. Can't you just forget about it?”

“She started stalking me. She transferred to my school assuming we were soulmates.” Kaiba glared at his little brother. That incident had turned into a horrible mess. The girl told anyone who would listen that she'd become friends with Seto Kaiba over the internet. The public didn't know that it was really Mokuba Kaiba masquerading as his older brother, and Kaiba had kept that piece of information completely secret to protect his brother. That didn't mean that he wouldn't continually remind Mokuba of what a horrible idea it had been.

“Whatever,” Mokuba mumbled. “I still say I could wrap this girl around your fingers.”

Kaiba ignored him, and Mokuba began reading the letter. While Mokuba was reading, Kaiba decided to take another look at the boyfriend's computer.

“Oh, can I duel against her, Seto? It sounds fun!”

Kaiba began looking at the boy's browser history. He had a facebook. Kaiba was familiar with that. “She doesn't know how to play. She wouldn't be much of a challenge.”

“That's okay...” Mokuba trailed off. “Hey! You never told me she lives in California! You should meet up with her next time you're there for business.”

“No.” Now that Kaiba was successfully able to get into her boyfriend's facebook, he knew exactly where she lived and what she looked like. The boy had her listed as his girlfriend, and Kaiba found himself staring at the facebook page of his pen pal. “I've got you now,” he muttered as he looked at her picture.

“You know Seto, sometimes just being nice to people is the fastest way to get them to do what you want.” Mokuba was walking over to the computer, curious about what his older brother was looking at.

Kaiba knew how Mokuba often managed to get his way, but that was Mokuba's style, not his. He let Mokuba get a look at the facebook page. “That's the girl I'm writing to.”

Mokuba's eyebrows pulled together. “How did you find her? I mean, I knew you were good at this sort of stuff, but wow. I'm impressed, big brother.”

Kaiba smirked. He wouldn't reveal his slight setback to Mokuba. “Somewhere on this page is the secret to forcing her to stop writing to me.”

“NO!” Mokuba was vehemently opposed to that. “Give me a chance to win her over! I want to prove to you that I can manipulate people too!”

Kaiba studied his brother. It would be less of a hassle to just take care of the girl himself, but Mokuba did seem to want to do this. He wouldn't have to waste any time on the girl's facebook page, sifting through her pointless thoughts, if he allowed Mokuba to handle this.

He considered all the facts before making his choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to give credit where credit is due. I never would have thought about porn without Crys-Chan from Luna. :)


	14. Letter #14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to combine the 14th and 15th chapters. The 15th chapter was originally an Interlude but whatever, it's now part of chapter 14. Hopefully that doesn't confuse me down the line. 
> 
> Original author notes for the second half (because still relevant):  
> I don't want to talk about how many times I rewrote this update. I'd write it, hate it, delete it, and then ignore this story for a few months.
> 
> Then the pattern would repeat. 
> 
> I finally decided to just write out the duel and the message exchange to just get it over with. I also decided Mokuba seemed like the sort of person who wouldn't capitalize anything. (I don't know why I thought that, but there it is.)
> 
> Also, I hate duels and dueling. There! I said it! I just find it tedious. So it goes without saying that I'm not going to be very good at writing out a duel. Feel free to skim over the bolded duel portions. (Heck, it's what I'd do. I admit it.)
> 
> The next chapter will be less failtastic. I promise.

Mimi was actually in class today. When you saw her sitting in her desk, you took a moment to try to figure out what she was doing there. Nothing was due, and there wasn't a test. She'd been in class yesterday to turn in her letter... “What's up? Did Mr. Holt finally say something about all your absences?” This was the last class of the day for both of you, and Mimi liked going home early. She showed up for tests and turned in her essays, but otherwise, she skipped out. So you couldn't think of a reason for her to be in class today. 

She still managed to maintain an 'A,' so nobody ever said anything.

She leaned forward onto her desk. “Guess what I overheard in the office today?” She didn't wait for you to guess. “Our class is going to Japan!” She was whispering, but her words still caught the attention of the people nearby. 

A few students turned to look at the two of you. “No way!”

You agreed with your classmate. There was no way that your class would be going to Japan. This pen pal program was something that the school did with their sister school in Japan every year, but they only had class trips to Japan every four years or so. Plus they alternated which school took the trip. Granted it had been a while, but last time your school visited their school. The Domino High students should be visiting your school this time around.

Mimi just stared at the girl. It was pretty obvious that she was ready to ask your classmate why she was interrupting the conversation. So you got her attention. “Where did you hear this?”

“You know how I work in the office after lunch?” You nodded. “Well, Mr. Holt was talking to the Principal today–I think he's still in there–and they were finalizing all the details. He's probably going to announce it today.”

Mimi looked pleased with herself. She liked knowing what was going on before anyone else, and working in the office usually helped her obtain information about everything. You didn't trust very many people, but Mimi knew what was going on at school.

The idea of going to Japan was exciting. You could go shopping and maybe your pen pal would...

Right, your pen pal hated you. You groaned and placed your head down on Mimi's desk. “Maybe we should have switched pen pals. I think you'd get along with mine better than I do.”

She laughed. “Has he finally removed that stick from his ass?”

“No,” you grumpily admitted. “But he'd like you more. You'd leave him alone. I'm sure he thinks of me the way you think of your pen pal.”

“Hold it.” Mimi held up a hand. “You are nothing like my pen pal. Did you send him nine pages detailing why people should never sleep with someone they aren't deeply in love with? No. Of course you didn't. Because she's super annoying, and you aren't.” She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Honestly, that dick should just be happy that he isn't writing her–OOOOH! Think we could just start sending her letters to him and his letters to her?!”

“I...” You didn't know where she got some of her ideas. “No. I don't think my pen pal deserves that... Why did she send you nine pages about sex anyway?”

Mimi rolled her eyes. “Remember that super long letter she sent me about that guy she likes but can't date for whatever reason?”

You nodded. It had been a ridiculously long letter. You read some of it, but it really hadn't been that interesting.

“Well, I sent her one telling her to just fu–”

“I'm sorry I'm late class.”

You turned in your seat to see Mr. Holt walking up to the front of the room. All the conversations in the room died down as he put his bag down on his desk.

“I was in a meeting with the principal, and I have a surprise for all of you. We're going to Japan!”

“I told you so,” Mimi announced in the brief silence that followed.

Then the entire class seemed to erupt. Everyone seemed to have something to say or ask. Mr. Holt seemed to enjoy the chaos. He simply smiled for a few minutes as he allowed the class to quiet down on its own.

“Now, I'm sure many of you are familiar with the exchange program that we do every few years. Over the winter break, our class will be traveling to Japan to visit Domino High School. You'll have the opportunity to spend time with your pen pals. The school will cover most of the cost, but those of you without passports will have to go out and get them yourselves. There will be a few other expenses that your families will be asked to cover. but we'll be doing some fund-raising to try to minimize that. We're still looking for chaperones, so if any of your parents want to volunteer ask them to contact me.” Mr. Holt began handing out information packets. “All the details are here, but if you or your parents have any questions, you can email me or ask them tomorrow.”

You liked the idea of visiting Japan. It would be a lot of fun to go shopping for clothes there. It was just a shame you had the feeling that your pen pal wouldn't be happy to see you. You wondered if he already knew about the trip or if their teacher had yet to tell them.

Maybe he would just refuse to see you?

\-----

 

At the end of class, you received your next letter. It felt like it contained yet another CD. You didn't even have to open the letter to know that it was probably a 'more exciting' version of the game he sent you last time. Men were predictable. If you said that you didn't like whatever game they were into, then they would be convinced you hadn't played it enough and try to make you play it more.

You unfolded the letter, convinced you were right but wanting confirmation.

_Enclosed is a multiplayer version of the simulator that I sent you. I refuse to play against you until you learn the rules, but my brother said he would be willing to duel you._

This was a strange family. One brother tried to pay you to stop sending him letters, meanwhile the other brother was volunteering to play games with you online.

You wondered if he would tell you embarrassing stories about your pen pal. That could be fun, and that was what siblings did.

_Install this game on your computer. It is set up to connect whatever profile you create with my brother's profile. That way you can each see when the other is online._

Fun! Now you wanted to know if there would be an option to chat with your opponent. There had to be a feature like that.

You tossed your stuff into your bag before throwing the strap over your shoulder. You were going to hurry home and install this game the moment you turned your desktop on. You waved goodbye to Mark since he was still waiting for his letter, and you didn't feel like hanging around until he got it.

At home, the first thing you did was turn on your computer. You stuck the CD into the CD-drive and let it boot up as you made your way to the kitchen so you could grab something to snack on.

By the time you came back to your computer, it had a window open asking if you wanted to install the new software. You hit the install button and started pulling out your homework. The installation took much less time than you expected, and you quickly found yourself staring at a username creation screen. Being suddenly faced with the question of what to call yourself made your mind go blank.

Then you looked up at the cards pinned to your bulletin board. Amazon of the Seas. Maybe your pen pal would appreciate the duel monsters reference? You typed in SeaAmazon. The game accepted that name and loaded.

Then it informed you that CapMaster was not online and asked if you wanted to play a practice game. You decided that you might as well.

Later that night, as you were trying to finish up the homework that you shouldn't have ignored, a notification popped up on your screen.

**CapMaster is online.**

**CapMaster** : hi! you must be my brother’s pen pal!  
 **SeaAmazon** : Yes! Hi! It’s nice to meet you, Cap!  
 **SeaAmazon** : I hear you’re willing to help me learn how to play Duel Monsters?  
 **CapMaster** : yeah! it’ll be fun. let me start a game.  
  
 **CapMaster has challenged you to a duel! Accept?**  
 **SeaAmazon has accepted the challenge.**  
  
 **CapMaster** : okay. heads i go first tails you go first.  
 **CapMaster** : tails. D: oh well. i’ll still beat you.  
 **SeaAmazon** : You’re on kid! I’ve been practicing!  
  
 **SeaAmazon plays a card face down in defense mode.  
**  
SeaAmazon sets down a card.  
SeaAmazon ends her turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 8000 LP | CapMaster 8000 LP**  
  
 **CapMaster** : you didn’t even do anything!  
 **SeaAmazon** : It was just the first turn!  
 **CapMaster** : let me show you how it’s done.  
  
 **CapMaster plays Delinquent Duo and sacrifices 1000 LP.  
**  
CapMaster selects a card for Sea Amazon to discard.  
  
 **SeaAmazon** : What?! And now it’s telling me to pick a card to discard, too…  
 **SeaAmazon** : But I like all of my cards! D: So unfair!  
 **CapMaster** : you gotta play by the rules.  
 **CapMaster** : haha.  
 **SeaAmazon** : Fine. ):  
  
 **SeaAmazon selects another card to discard.  
**  
CapMaster plays Gemini Elf in attack mode.  
CapMaster attacks SeaAmazon’s face down card.  
  
 **SeaAmazon** : Not so fast!  
  
 **SeaAmazon activates Mirror Force.  
**  
Gemini Elf is destroyed.  
CapMaster ends his turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 8000 LP | CapMaster 7000 LP**  
  
 **CapMaster** : not bad… for a beginner. you still wouldn’t stand a chance against my brother.  
 **CapMaster** : and you won’t beat me!  
 **SeaAmazon:** I’d just settle for convincing your brother to send me longer letters.  
 **SeaAmazon:** Has he mentioned much about the letters to you?  
 **CapMaster** : uh i think he likes it?  
 **CapMaster** : don’t take anything he says too seriously. ;) he’s really just shy.  
 **SeaAmazon:** Somehow, I don’t believe that. xD  
  
 **SeaAmazon plays Mountain.  
**  
SeaAmazon turns over her Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress in attack mode.  
SeaAmazon plays La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp in attack mode.  
SeaAmazon attacks with Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress.  
SeaAmazon attacks with La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp.  
SeaAmazon ends her turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 8000 LP | CapMaster 3600 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** I’m winning! It’s probably just beginner’s luck though!  
 **CapMaster** : you’re only winning for now!  
 **CapMaster** : and my brother says there’s no such thing as luck in duel monsters.  
 **SeaAmazon:** Is he really as obsessed with this game as he seems?  
 **CapMaster** : he’s the best duelist there is!  
 **CapMaster** : he can beat people in a handful of turns.  
  
 **CapMaster plays Raigeki.**  
  
 **CapMaster** : see! just one card but now you have nothing!  
  
 **CapMaster plays Witch of the Black Forest in attack mode.  
**  
CapMaster attacks with Witch of the Black Forest.  
CapMaster ends his turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 6900 LP | CapMaster 3600 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** Oh man! All I have are a useless magic card and a summon monster. D: I can’t do anything can I?  
 **CapMaster:** haha nope! gotta do nothing.  
 **CapMaster:** told you that i could still win!  
 **SeaAmazon:** This is really lame.  
 **SeaAmazon:** I really don’t know why people like this game.  
  
 **SeaAmazon ends her turn.**  
  
 **SeaAmazon 6900 LP | CapMaster 3600 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** Hey, has your brother ever played in a tournament? I hear those things are pretty big deals over in Japan.  
 **CapMaster:** all the time! i told you he’s the best!  
  
 **CapMaster plays The Bistro Butcher.  
**  
CapMaster attacks with Witch of the Dark Forest.  
CapMaster attacks with The Bistro Butcher.  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** Oh. Thanks! I needed more cards!  
  
 **SeaAmazon draws two cards.**  
  
 **CapMaster:** it wasn’t intentional. that’s just a side effect!  
  
 **CapMaster ends his turn.**  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 3600 LP**  
  
 **CapMaster:** my brother told me that you live in california.  
 **CapMaster:** is that true? i’ve only been there a few times.  
 **SeaAmazon:** It is! I’m surprised you’ve been here before!  
 **SeaAmazon:** On vacation with your family?  
 **CapMaster:** yeah. summer vacation. normal stuff. you know…  
 **SeaAmazon:** I shouldn’t be surprised. Based on the money your brother sent me, it’s safe to assume your parents are rich!  
 **CapMaster:** my brother refuses to spend time on the beach though. he hates sand.  
 **SeaAmazon:** He seems to dislike a lot of things.  
  
 **SeaAmazon uses Raigeki.  
**  
SeaAmazon plays Rogue Doll in attack mode.  
SeaAmazon uses Black Pendant.  
SeaAmazon attacks with Rogue Doll.  
SeaAmazon ends her turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 1500 LP**  
  
 **CapMaster:** i can still win!  
  
 **CapMaster uses Monster Reborn.  
**  
CapMaster sets La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp in defense mode.  
CapMaster plays a card face down in defense mode.  
CapMaster ends his turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 1500 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** I think I’m getting the hang of this!  
 **SeaAmazon:** I’ve got a good hand too!  
  
 **SeaAmazon plays Blue Rose Dragon in attack mode.  
**  
SeaAmazon uses Malevolent Nuzzler.  
SeaAmazon attacks the face down card with Blue Rose Dragon.  
The face down card was Man-Eater Bug.  
Blue Rose Dragon is destroyed!  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** Oh! ): And I just got that card too!  
  
 **SeaAmazon attacks with Rogue Doll.  
**  
SeaAmazon ends her turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 1500 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** I don’t know how you people like this game.  
 **SeaAmazon:** It’s so annoying to see your cards just get destroyed like that.  
 **CapMaster:** if you were better maybe they wouldn’t be destroyed.  
 **CapMaster:** my brother never loses his favorite cards!  
  
 **CapMaster plays a card face down in defense mode.  
**  
CapMaster ends his turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 1500 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** Not much of a turn! ;)  
 **SeaAmazon:** …but I’m sure you have something planned. :)  
  
 **SeaAmazon plays a card face down in defense mode.  
**  
SeaAmazon attacks with Rogue Doll.  
SeaAmazon ends her turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 1500 LP**  
  
 **CapMaster:** i went easy on you at first! no more!  
  
 **CapMaster plays Delinquent Duo and sacrifices 1000 LP.  
**  
SeaAmazon is forced to discard her only card.  
CapMaster plays Gemini Elf.  
CapMaster attacks SeaAmazon’s face down card with Gemini Elf.  
Blast Sphere’s effect is triggered!  
Blast Effect is equipped to Gemini Elf.  
CapMaster ends his turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 500 LP**  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** See! Those monster cards that do stuff are a huge pain!  
 **SeaAmazon:** Any last words before I beat you? ;)  
  
 **SeaAmazon plays a card face down in defense mode.  
**  
SeaAmazon ends her turn.  
  
 **SeaAmazon 4000 LP | CapMaster 500 LP**  
  
 **Blast Sphere destroys Gemini Elf.  
**  
CapMaster loses 1900 LP.  
SeaAmazon has won!  
  
 **SeaAmazon:** You played a good game, kid.  
 **SeaAmazon:** I still don’t understand the appeal, but maybe your brother will play me now?  
 **CapMaster:** it was just beginner’s luck!  
 **CapMaster:** my brother would demolish you!  
  
 **CapMaster has logged off.**  



End file.
